Chapter 101: A Minor Breakthrough Against the Long Night

Lin Xiaosu was unable to speak further.

An hour later, they boarded an international flight bound for the Fusang Kingdom. Lin Xiaosu had begun his debut journey on foreign soil.

Another hour passed; night had fully fallen when the plane landed at Shidao Airport. They were now within the borders of Fusang. It was nine o'clock in the evening.

Standing at the airport exit, Lin Xiaosu’s gaze turned vacant and indifferent. The first stage of his time-retrocession had begun. He traced back to Huang Chengwang.

Around eleven o'clock the previous night, Huang Chengwang had set foot on Fusang soil. Several small black cars were waiting for him. Huang boarded one, and the five-car motorcade departed, with him in the middle vehicle. He exchanged a few words with a silver-haired, remarkably spirited Fusang man in the back seat. Judging by his lip movements, he was speaking the Fusang language—this traitor could actually speak the tongue.

"Welcome, Huang-san, to the side of righteousness!" the silver-haired man had said.

"The environment back home was poor; I had no choice but to come to your esteemed country," was Huang’s reply.

Then, the cars started up...

Lin Xiaosu kept his left eye locked in the retrocession while his right eye returned to normal. He approached a taxi, knocked on the window, and spoke in fluent Fusang. Chang Ye felt a slight jolt in her heart—how was his Fusang so fluent? When did he learn it? She remembered his file stating that he had studied English from primary school through university, yet his proficiency was comparable to a native college student.

The taxi driver even mistook him for a local: "Sir, have you just returned from abroad?"

"Yes, I just took a trip to Daxia," Lin Xiaosu said as he and Chang Ye got into the car. "Follow this road..."

The driver left the airport, and, as directed by Lin Xiaosu, he took the exact same route that Huang Chengwang had taken the night before.

Midway through the journey, he captured the most critical segment of the previous night. Huang Chengwang opened his bag, revealing a purple stone sealed inside a glass container. The silver-haired old man, face full of excitement, promised to protect Huang’s safety. He personally escorted Huang to an island on the edge of Shidao Island, where Huang was taken into the island by boat, while the old man turned back with the purple stone.

Lin Xiaosu spoke up: "Stop the car!"

Chang Ye paid the fare. She had remained silent the entire time, speaking only to settle the bill. The reason was simple: Lin Xiaosu truly had no Fusang currency on him.

The taxi drove away. The sea breeze blew through the pitch-black night. The small island ahead flickered with lights in the darkness.

"You’ve been tracking this all the way here—have you found a lead?" Chang Ye whispered.

"Huang Chengwang is on the island across from us," Lin Xiaosu replied. "But this island is no ordinary place. We need to clearly understand the military configuration stationed there first."

"It’s easy to be discovered in the dead of night," Chang Ye noted. "Let’s find an inn to stay at first."

This was a trick of intelligence gathering. Most people imagine the dark as a natural barrier, the best auxiliary for espionage, but that is not always the case. For instance, in this foreign land, wandering aimlessly by the empty seaside in the middle of the night would make anyone with a modicum of sensitivity think these two were up to no good. People are the best camouflage; wait until daylight when crowds gather and everyone is sightseeing, and two more people won't look out of place.

At night, one should sleep when they can.

They found an inn. Seaside inns are generally low, just three-story buildings. The Fusang penchant for being small-scale was reflected in every detail; the inn was small outside and even smaller inside. The room contained only a bathroom, a tiny viewing balcony, and a double bed. While it was a double bed, if the occupants were heavy or sprawled out, sleeping two people might require a certain degree of overlap...

For these two, however, a lack of bed space was not a problem. They were already accustomed to overlapping.

Their last "bird-catching" expedition had already crossed a certain boundary. If Chang Ye’s "rabbit" had hair, he had likely already plucked it bald. Chang Ye certainly didn't resist this messy plucking; in fact, it ranked first on the list of things she permitted—it was low-risk, high-comfort, and convenient for travel.

Why? It depended on her particular condition. Her lower regions were a forbidden zone, strictly off-limits. Her lips, too, carried significant risks. Only the rabbit-plucking was safe and controllable.

So he plucked... and as he did, he found it hard to stop. The little lecher’s hand began to slide toward other places. Chang Ye, who had been enjoying it, felt her entire body tense up as she sensed this movement. "What are you doing?"

"The scientific spirit lies in exploration!"

"Explore your head! Do you want to get yourself killed?"

"I must probe your boundaries to face your shackles. Only by facing them can I find a way to break them."

As a suffix to scientific exploration, this actually sounded somewhat logical. Chang Ye was indeed shackled. Without breaking these shackles, she would face many inconveniences. Her body was full of toxins—lethal weapons for killing enemies—and theoretically, the more terrifying the poison, the better. But it was a double-edged sword. While maximizing damage to enemies, it posed a greater danger to her comrades, and what about herself? There was a massive danger there, too.

For now, she was active as usual, and the poison didn't seem to be an immediate threat. But who knew if a fatal injury had already formed? Who knew if the poison demon was lying in ambush in some critical part of her body, baring its fangs? This was the scientific basis for Lin Xiaosu’s deep contact with her most toxic parts.

Chang Ye’s heart was in turmoil. She seemed to ignore the "scientific" nature of it all, her emotions beginning to override her logic. Her principles began to retreat: "Let's set a bottom line—fingers only... Oh, and we must monitor..."

She sat up and inserted a needle into Lin Xiaosu's arm, watching the changes in it intently. The needle suddenly turned a deep crimson, and Chang Ye tensed like a bowstring. What did this mean? Those who knew, knew.

Time seemed to crawl... Finally, the needle’s color began to change. It turned a normal red, then yellow. Chang Ye let out a long sigh: "You little jerk, you scared me to death..."

For the remainder of the time, Chang Ye closed her eyes. Her nervous state slowly vanished, replaced by something profoundly mysterious. Finally, trembling all over, she hugged Lin Xiaosu tightly. "That’s enough for today. No further. Absolutely not! We’re on a mission..."

Lin Xiaosu stopped. No matter how hard it was to cease, he had to. As Chang Ye said, they were on a mission in a foreign land. If a moment of impulse led to something high-risk, and he, the operator, were to fall in Fusang—hardened before the mission was even won—it would be a massive blunder, perhaps even an eternal laughingstock.

During the second half of the night, they focused on gathering their energy, doing their best to maintain control. Such are the aftereffects of being playful.

The next day, they split up to scout the enemy. Chang Ye had changed her attire, dressing like an ordinary professional woman before leaving. Before she left, she gave Lin Xiaosu some funds—Fusang currency.

Lin Xiaosu stood before the bathroom mirror, quietly looking at himself. He looked quite handsome... Then, a strange change occurred on his face. Beneath his skin, a flow of true energy seemed to ripple, causing his skin to undulate. As the ripple passed, his features transformed completely.

This spectacle was something no one could have imagined. For a member of the "Hidden Dragon," disguise was an essential skill. Almost every member was proficient in it, but their techniques fell into two categories: technological and psychological.

Technological meant 3D-printed silicone masks and electronic devices to alter voices. Psychological meant keeping the face unchanged while altering dress, hairstyle, and gait to project a completely different temperament, deceiving others' visual perceptions. Lin Xiaosu had used psychological disguise during the 5.16 case.

But today, his disguise transcended the concepts of science and psychology, entering the realm of metaphysics—he was using true energy to reshape his face.

Could true energy change one's appearance? Lin Xiaosu couldn't do it before, but now he could. Why? Because his true energy contained something not of this world: the essence crystal of the Nine-Changing Nether Beast.

What was the core foundation of the Nine-Changing Nether Beast? Change! It was a bizarre creature from another world. At its starting stage, it was just duckweed, barely even an animal. Given enough nutrients, it could transform into an insect—a transformation from plant to animal. Then, it could become a white snake. The white snake could become a red bird... What was the fifth change? The *Sea Abyss Sutra* recorded it as a "flying sable."

What was the ultimate ninth change? The *Sea Abyss Sutra* did not record it, because even in the primordial world, no one knew its final form. It began as nothing, yet by its fifth change, it had crossed from water to land, and from land to sky. Moreover, after the fifth change, it stepped into legendary territory—the flying sable. While things that fly exist on Earth, and sables exist, a creature that is both a sable and can fly seems unheard of. Under Lin Xiaosu’s hand, its fifth change was cut short, losing the premise for verification. In fact, Lin Xiaosu didn't dare to verify it.

He had ended the Nine-Changing Nether Beast’s path of "change" prematurely. Yet, crushing its essence crystal seemed to have embedded a mysterious power—the property of "change"—into his true energy. In a sense, he now possessed the supernatural ability to "change."

Lin Xiaosu left the inn and headed toward the seaside. He was now, in every way, a completely different young man. There were many tourists at the beach, both locals and those from the Fusang capital, Dongfang City. The seascape here was world-renowned. There were even people from Daxia. Although the two nations were bitter rivals, decades of superficial peace had given many a false sense of security, and civilian exchanges were quite frequent.

Lin Xiaosu approached a local fisherman and, speaking in fluent Fusang, struck up a conversation: "Sir, are you a local?"

"Yes! Where are you from, sir?"

"I came over from Beidao Island yesterday..."

After a brief exchange, Lin Xiaosu learned a great deal.